Prime Minister Gabriel Attal spoke at a press conference this Wednesday to announce new concrete measures in favor of farmers.
While farmers asked the government to go further, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal held a press conference this Wednesday morning to detail the main orientations of the executive’s project in agricultural matters and outline the monitoring and execution of the aid measures announced at the start of the year. “Agricultural sovereignty is our course” he declared, while taking into account “the cry of anger” of farmers, three days before the opening of the Agricultural Show, Porte de Versailles.
A new text of the Egalim law
First, the Prime Minister announced a new text of the Egalim law by this summer to allow better remuneration for farmers within the framework of negotiations between distributors and agro-industrial suppliers. In this sense, France will abandon the measurement indicator currently used, particularly useful for measuring the reduction in the use of pesticides. This “Nodu” is strongly contested by the FNSEA and the pesticide industry.
Facilitate the arrival of foreign seasonal workers
Gabriel Attal also mentioned the case of foreign seasonal workers: their arrival in France will be made easier. As expected, agricultural production will be declared as a “sector in tension” during the Agricultural Show to “greatly facilitate the allocation of visas”. To deal with recruitment tensions, the government is also considering “exempting almost all seasonal agricultural jobs from employer contributions”. This follows the executive’s promises of a commitment to “strong social and fiscal measures”.
Actions against unfair competition
Also, the agricultural orientation bill will be “presented at the end of the week” and “deliberated in the spring” announced Marc Fesneau during the press conference. In total, 99.6% of basic CAP aid has already been paid. Gabriel Attal, for his part, sets the objective of 100% as of March 15, 2024. “The objective of agricultural and food sovereignty” will also be written “black and white” in the future agricultural orientation bill announces the tenant of Matignon this Wednesday morning.
During his press conference, the Prime Minister also wanted to reassure farmers in the face of unfair competition. “If it is forbidden for our farmers, it must not enter our homes,” he said. “I asked the European Commission to ban all imports of agricultural products containing thiacloprid,” he recalled. To continue to decline the proposals that were formulated by the prefects in connection with the agricultural profession, the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau will bring together “this afternoon all the stakeholders to say what we are doing on simplification. There are 2,800 contributions that have been made and therefore, we must continue, so that we can simplify,” he announced.